Former Pope Benedict peacefully passed away on Dec. 31st after his successor, Pope Francis, announced he was “very sick.”

Article by Georgia Simon, Associate Reporter

VATICAN CITY - After resigning from the position of Pope nine years ago, Pope Benedict died at 9:34 AM in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery. His funeral will be led by Pope Francis in St. Peters Square in Vatican City on Thursday at 9:30 AM local time.

The former Pope’s original name is Joseph Alois Ratzinger and he was born on April 16th, 1927, in the village of Marktl, Germany, just six years before the Nazi regime would begin.

That being said, although only six years old when Hitler took over, he would later be forced to join Hitler Youth in 1941 and was drafted into the military by 1943. In 1945, while stationed in Hungry, he left but was then captured by the US Military and for a short time, was held as a prisoner.

After the war ended, he began studying in the seminary where he was inducted as a Priest in June 1951.

Following his induction, he was awarded a teaching license while continuing his education at multiple universities, like the University of Munich and the University of Bonn. He would later become the Vice President at the University of Regensburg.

Pope Benedict served as an advisor during the Second Vatican Council, from 1962-65, while supporting reform.

He was appointed Archbishop of Munich in 1977 and became a cardinal three months later.

He was a monitor of the Congregation of Doctrine of the Faith from 1981-2005. During this time he was working closely as an advisor to Pope John Paul II before his appointment on April 19th, 2005, where he chose the name, Benedict XVI.

Some of his first steps as Pope were to reach out to other religions like Judaism and Islam while still working closely with Europe’s Christian Churches.

Throughout his role as Pope, he faced many obstacles including a divided Priest community over the direction of the church, sexual misconduct and abuse allegations against or involving Priests across the globe, as well as a decrease in attendance of church.

He formally resigned as Pope on February 28th due to his health and age. His final public address drew in 50,000 people before handing over the role to current Pope Francis.

However, in 2020 he was accused of mismanaging at least four cases of sexual exploitation by Priests. Although denying any corruption, he still remained to ask for forgiveness.

“He served our Church in many roles - priest, scholar, diocesan bishop, curial official, & Pontiff. May Christ reward him for his loving service,” Washington, DC’s Archbishop Wilton Gregory said.